Action by Swiss Sparks
European-Currency Rally

NEW YORK -- The dollar gained against the yen as investors unloaded the Japanese currency in droves, but the primary beneficiaries of the sell-off were European currencies.

All Western European currencies surged after the Swiss National Bank, the central bank of Switzerland, announced Thursday morning it had raised its three-month Libor target rate range by 0.75 percentage points, a half-point more than expected.